Researchers have discovered a way to produce biodiesel using used cooking oil and a microwave. Scientists have developed a process of using a microwave and catalyst-coasted beads to produce the renewable fuel. The research, with funding from the Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, was recently published in ACS’ journal Energy & Fuels. One of the challenges of biodiesel …
Research Uses Waste Papayas for Biofuels
Research led by the U.D. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists is looking at how to encourage algae in to producing oil from waste papayas and other unmarketable crops or byproducts such as glycerol. The lead scientist for the project is Lisa Keith, a plant pathologist with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). The experiments are taking place in Hilo Hawaii and …
Texas A&M Discovers Algae to Biofuel Breakthrough
Scientists from Texas A&M may have discovered a way to coax algae into making larger amounts of oil. The team discovered an enzyme responsible for making hydrocarbons that could in turn increase the amount of oil algae produces improving the algae to biofuel process. The green algae strain researched was Botryococcus braunii, and the study was published in the current …
Research: Sugar to Biodiesel Better
Researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered a method to economically produce biodiesel from sugarcane as compared to the production of biodiesel from soybean oil. At the beginning of the research, which was designed to find a better way to make biodiesel than using food crops or land needed for food production, the team landed on sugarcane and sweet …
Penn State Harvests First Shrub Willow Crop
Researchers at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have completed the harvest of its first experimental crop of shrub willow. The intention of the biomass crop is for use to produce renewable energy and bio-based products. The 34 acres of the shrub willow is part of a five-year program called NEWBio one of seven regional projects of which the goal …
Research Converts Tomato Paste to Energy
Researchers from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology have developed a way to convert tomato waste in electricity. Led by Venkataramana Gadhamshetty, Ph.D., he and his team used a biological-based fuel cell that uses tomato waste left over from harvests in Florida. The characteristics of the decomposing waste make it a “perfect fuel source” for enhancing electrochemical reactions, Gadhamshetty …
U of Florida Researchers Tout Algae Breakthrough
Researchers at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) may have broken the code on better algae-based biofuels. Bala Rathinasabapathi, a UF/IFAS professor of horticultural sciences, said they have identified a “transcription factor” called ROC40 that controls the expression of many genes inside algae. He likens this process to a policeman controlling a large crowd. While …
Math Path to Ideal Algae Biorefineries
A joint research team from the Chemical and Biological Sciences Department, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, and the Chemical Engineering Department of Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, both located in Mexico, have discovered a way to produce biofuels from algae that also removes CO2 emissions from the environment. The findings were published in a recent edition of Industrial & …
U of York Team Aids in Biofuel Enzyme Research
A global research team is working together to help develop more efficient production methods for biofuel production. Scientists at the University of York are part of this team looking at how natural occurring enzymes can be used to degrade microbe-resistant biomass. The research is part of ongoing study of a recently discovered family of enzymes produced by fungi and bacteria, …
Berkeley Lab’s Enzyme Reduces Plant Lignin
One of the barriers to efficient second generation biofuels is creating a better way to break down the lignin in plants that is then converted to the sugars that create the building blocks of biobased products such as cellulosic ethanol, biomaterials and biochemicals. But this hurdle may be getting lower with research out of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Scientists have …